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THE CONFLAGRATION 



CITY OF NEW. YORK 



A DISCOURSE 



°'^HY,*^?;^° ''"^ ^"E SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH I\ BROOKLVM 
DECEMBER 20th, 1835; ON THE SUBJECT OF THE FIRE IN NEW ' 
YORK ON THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 16th. 




THE CONFLAGRATION 



CITY OF NEW. YORK 



A DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BROOKLYN, 
DECEMBER 20th, 1835; ON THE SUBJECT OF THE FIRE IN NEW- 
YORK ON THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 16th. 



BY XCHABOD S. SPBNCBR. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST 



/ 



NEW-YORKi 

J. Post's Press, 101 John street, second door north of Pearl street. 
1836. 



SERMON. 



EzEK. xxviii. 18. 

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniqui' 
ties, by the iniquity of thy traffic ; therefore will I bring forth a fire 
from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I unll bring thee to 
ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 



My Dear Friends, 

It is seldom that we assemble in 
circumstances of so much sadness, as we assemble 
this morning. That flood of fire, which has rolled 
over so much of the adjacent city, has laid in ashes 
the possessions of some of our beloved congrega- 
tion, and extended its injuries to a greater or less 
degree to almost every one of us ! We see around 
us, our respected and beloved friends, whose wealth 
is now ashes, whose stores are but piles of smoking 
ruins, whose plans of industry and enterprize have 
all been dashed in pieces in a single night, whose 
hopes are disappointed, and whose hearts, as they 
remember their wives and children, and others who 
look to them for support, are forced to feel sen- 



sations of bitterness and sorrow of no common 
kind ! This calamity has deeply affected us. It 
has caused a bitter and general mourning. It has 
fallen upon those respected and beloved — upon 
those, whose prosperity is peculiarly important to 
their own families not only, but to every class of 
society ! Now, the heart of the wife and the mo- 
ther is filled with sadness, as she beholds the hus- 
band of her love and the father of her children, the 
friend on whom she leaned, made desolate in a 
single night ! Now, families of children, recently 
hopeful and happy, are filled with fear and dis- 
tress, as they know the fire has burnt down the pos- 
sessions of their father, and perhaps made him 
too poor to give them bread ! No man can yet 
tell the extent of this calamity. It may reach 
multitudes in some of its disastrous effects, whom 
none of us suppose to be at all affected by it. And 
though it may not create so much immediate suf- 
fering, but there will be some alleviation and some 
resource, yet it cannot but be, that its effects shall 
be very dreadful ! 

We would improve this calamitous event. Stand- 
ing here to speak to men for God, we would say 
to them, — that was God's work ! It was by his 
permission that the blaze, no bigger than a man^s 
hand, extended itself, till one pile after another be- 
came a sheet of living flame, and an " ocean of 
fire" was rolling over the noble and happy city ! 
It was by God's control, that the ordinary resour- 



ces against the progress of the devouring element 
were of so little avail ! It was God's cold that 
congealed the quenching waters, which activity and 
promptness would have poured upon it ! It was 
God's wind that fanned and drove onward the 
flames, consuming the costliest fabrics, crumbhng 
down the most noble buildings, spreading from 
pile to pile and from street to street, till it seemed 
as if the whole city were devoted to ruin ! It was 
by God's power, that the pieces of burning mate- 
rial were borne up into the heavens, and fell, like a 
shower of fire, upon even the roofs of your own 
city ! And it was God's power that stayed its 
progress. After it had attained such a mastery, 
after it had perfecdy defeated the attempts of man 
at so many points, and arrived at such a pitch of 
resistless rage ; it would not have been at all won- 
derful, if it had doubled its desolations ! But it 
was controlled by him ivho sitteth in the heavens. 

And now it should be our aim to make a judi- 
cious and solemn use of this affecting judgment. 
In attempting to do so, 

I. Let us guard against any unauthorized con- 
clusions to be drawn from this providence. 

II. Let us glance at some of the lessons of in- 
structive admonition which it seems to speak. 

III. Let us inquire what may be the design of 
heaven in sending it. 

IV. Let us mark the mercies, which, after all, we 
beheve to characterize it. 



I. Ill the text we read to you, it has pleased God 
to mention tlie reason of that ruin, which he threat- 
ened to bring upon Tyrus, a noted commercial city 
of the East. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries 
bif the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity 
ofthii traffic. This was tlie reason of his tlireat- 
ened judgment. 

Now, I suppose we are very hable to err, when 
we attempt to ascertain tlie reasons for providential 
afflictions. These reasons are known only by God, 
and those to whom he is pleased to reveal them. 
In those cases, and those only, where he is pleased 
to tell why he sends calamity, we have a right to 
tell. We know, on this subject, just what God 
has told us, and we know nothing more. The 
ways of God are mysterious and dark. He is a 
God who hideth himself. It belongs to no mortal 
eye to scan the secrets of his counsels. A wise 
man will aim to be instructed by divine providen- 
ces, will aim to be improved by them, will aim to 
conspire with the desolations of fire, or famine, or 
tempest, to have his heart made more humble, more 
filled with awe of the divine majesty, and with 
sensibility of his own creature dependance. But 
a wise man will not assign reasons for calamitous 
events, where God has not assigned them. On 
this point our knowledge is all general. There is 
no speciality in it. We know, in general, that sin 
is the cause of all human misery ; that God has 
often punished wickedness and forgetfulness of 



himself by desolating judgments ; that the acts 
of divine providence are all monitory. But we 
have no right to go beyond this. We must not 
assign the reasons for God's acts, when he has not, 
by express revelation, himself assigned them. 

Among fallen sinners like us, there is often a 
disposition to overlook the providences of God, on 
the one hand, and on the other, to make an unau- 
thorized use of them. The one proceeds from a 
half-atheistical disposition, no desire to find God 
in his world ; — and the other proceeds from a 
disposition scarcely less honorable to the Deity, 
pride, self-righteousness, or some kindred feeling 
of sin. 

Against the first of these dispositions, it would 
seem that we were sufficiently instructed in those 
passages which tell of God's numbering the very 
hairs of our head, — clothing the grass and the 
lilies of the field, — watching over the sparrow in 
his hedge, — and assuring us we are of more value 
than many sparrows. 

Against the second, Jesus Christ has sufficiently 
cautioned us. There were present at that season, 
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood 
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And 
Jesus answering said unto them, suppose ye that 
these Galileans were sinners above all the Gali- 
leans, because they suffered such things ? I tell 
you, Nay ; but exccjyt ye rejjent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the 



8 

tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that 
they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jeru- 
salem^ I tell you, Nay; hut except ye repent, ye 
shall all likewise perish. We have no right to say, 
that personal sin has brought the judgments of God. 
True, the judgments of God are all on account of 
sin. But there are so many ways unknown to us, 
in which he may accomplish his designs by them ; 
there are so many of them involved in utter dark- 
ness ; there are so many of them sent only to turn 
his best beloved people from dangerous ways, and 
thus prevent a more severe visitation ; that we are 
alike foolish and presuming, when we say it is pe- 
culiar wickedness on which the calamity has fallen. 
Neither the individuals, nor the city, that has suf- 
fered, must be thought by us more wicked than 
others, because they have suffered such things : I 
tell you, Nay. 

To indulge the idea that the calamities of this 
life are judgments upon those who are called to 
endure them, tends to render us too inattentive to 
that final judgment, where justice shall be vindi- 
cated, and iniquity receive its appropriate reward. 
This life is a mere shadow. The sands of three- 
score years and ten are soon fallen. The joys, 
the pains, of this little space will soon be over. 
All that we could reap from the most luxuriant 
field of earthly felicity, would be a boon scarcely 
worthy of God to give, and scarcely worthy of 
man to receive, if he could look forward to no 



9 

richer and more enduring joy. All the " ills that 
flesh is heir to" fall far short of the punishments, 
which God sees iniquity to deserve. Beyond this 
life, the throne of final judgment is reared. It 
stands in the midst of Eternity. God is seated 
upon it. And when all nations shall be gathered 
before it, it will be little to the terrors of that day, 
that all the cities in the world shall be burnt up ; 
that even the sun shall he turned into dark- 
ness ; the heavens shall he on fire, and the ele- 
ments shall melt. The dread idea will be, the 
ETERNITY, on which the immortal spirit shall 
be launched ! From that dread tribunal, the spi- 
rit must go forth, to awards as deathless, as the 
God that made it ! It is this, 

"Which makes a hell of hell, a heaven of heaven." 

Change shall be no more. Among the redeemed 
of Jesus Christ, there shall be no more sorrow, nor 
crying, nor pain. God shall wipe away all tears 
forever from their eyes ; — ivhile the wicked shall go 
away into everlasting punishment I Let us not 
entertain diminutive ideas of the goodness or the 
terrors of the Lord. Let us remember that judg- 
ments await wickedness, more dreadful than any to 
be found in the fires that burn down our cities; in 
the famines, or floods, or pestilences, that visit the 
earth. 

2 



10 

II. Still, divine providence is a divine lesson. 
Our King would have us notice his acts. And if 
with your usual kindness you will continue to lis- 
ten, we will attempt to mention some considera- 
tions which we deem appropriate in respect to this 
disaster. 

1. / will bring forth a fire from the midst of 
thee. How different is our situation from what we 
are accustomed to imagine ! We are prone to fear 
external ills. We are quick to look out for foreign 
danger. In that great city, what a strong and uni- 
versal sensation has existed, lest a rupture with a 
foreign government should derange hs commerce, 
injure its trade, diminish its profits and its felicity ; 
while at the same time, there was httle thought, 
that it contained within itself the prepared ele- 
ments of a more terrible disaster! Such elements 
were all there. They waited only the bidding of 
God to come forth and lay her pride in the dust ! 
The very merchandize, from which industry and 
enterprize make their gain, can easily be turned by 
God into fuel, to burn down with more dreadful 
conflagration the very edifices that contain it ! It 
needed no war with France to spread desolation 
from street to street. God has other agents, than 
the thunder of artillery, the embattled legions, and 
the whetted sword. He can turn our very pride 
into an enemy. He can bid the fire, and at his 
biddhig our choice possessions, our rich stores of 
merchandize, our clothing and our food shall feed 



11 

the flames, and add to our danger ! Thus it is, 
that we have the materials for ruin among our- 
selves. Our prized possessions may be turned 
against us ; — in no few circumstances they tend to 
enhance our danger. 

We are prone to forget our condition. The in- 
struments of our felicity, may become the instru- 
ments of our ruin. A great city, prosperous in 
trade, filled at the close of the year with the re- 
siilts of prosperity, food and fuel accumulated for 
a winter's supply, seems well prepared to furnish 
as much security and felicity as mortals can ex- 
pect. But how easy for God to turn it all into 
ruin ! A single night, — and the morning may 
dawn upon its ashes ! 

Are we not too unmindful that we have the ma- 
terials for misery among our most valued objects 1 
Do we not too often forget, that we need the pro- 
tection and care of an overruling God, as much in 
our very enjoyments, to keep them from turning 
to our injury, as we do in aiding us to attain them? 
Hence, 

2. This calamity strikingly illustrates the vanity 
of earthly possessions. 

It has fallen upon a class of men, whose pos- 
sessions were apparently as secure, as those of a 
commercial people can be. Many of the principal 
sufferers were men of extensive wealth. Indus- 
try and enterprise and skill, attended with the 
smiles of heaven, had put into their hands the 



12 

means of extensive usefulness, and opened be- 
fore them, as promising a prospect of competence 
and of earthly felicity, as it rarely falls to the lot of 
man to behold. Nothing was threatening them. 
No wars had begun to interrupt their commerce. 
No year of barrenness had held back the needful 
supplies, sent in from a thousand fields of luxu- 
riant richness. The plenty that filled the land, 
had sent to the mart of trade the accustomed pur- 
chasers, and every thing was as rich in promise, 
as the fondest expectation could have anticipated. 
But in a single night, how wonderful the "change ! 
The sun went down, upon as smiling and happy a 
city perhaps, as the world ever saw. The sun 
rose, and an extensive part of it, was nothing but 
one wide and smoking ruin ! In that dreadful 
night, the oldest, most wealthy, most substantial 
part of the city, was blotted out ! The devouring 
element seized upon the very centre and citadel of 
business and wealth ! At a single stroke, multi- 
tudes were ruined in fortune, in happiness, if not 
in hope ! The rich were reduced to poverty ! 
Their possessions melted away before their eyes, 
like the vanishings of a gilded dream ! Oh! how 
vain are the hopes men build upon earthly things ! 
God can blast them in a single hour ! At his bid- 
ding, any one of a thousand causes may start into 
action, and strip us of all we possess ! The truth 
is, we have nothing only by sufferance. No man 
has any firm hold on his riches. Their flight is 



13 

most easy and natural. They make to themselves 
wings and flee away. If God does not restrain 
the elements, our possessions vanish. If he please, 
the richest shall be as poor as the poorest ; the 
most secure shall be defenceless ; and every hope 
based on the possessions of the world shall melt 
into nothing. / will bring forth a fire from the 
midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and 1 will bring 
thee to ashes upon the earth in the SIGHT of all 
them that behold thee. Yes, 

3. This calamity illustrates the powerlessness 
of man. 

That great multitude of anxious and interested 
people, who gathered around their property to de- 
fend it, willing to do any thing and hazard any 
thing but life, (and in many cases even that,) — 
how utterly powerless ! Their promptness, their 
vigor, their distressful anxiety, their plans, all 
their power, — how feeble and ineffectual ! They 
could do little more than look, and wonder. 
They were ready for all that man could do, or 
man could dare. But it seemed as if God would 
teach man his littleness. He took the work into 
his own hands, and made it bear the marks of his 
mightiness. The ordinary means of vanquishing 
the destroying element appeared like folly before 
its power. Numbers availed nothing ; — strength, 
nothing ; — intrepidity, nothing ! Friend could not 
aid friend, nor brother, brother ! It seemed as if 
God would cut off every hope but in himself, and 



14 
teach a great city the utter powerlessness of 



man 



It is natural for us, (we are so much dependant 
upon one another,) to fly to our fellows for assist- 
ance. In our calamities, we cry to our friends to 
aid us. It is right ; and it tells no bad tale for 
human nature, that there is a spot in the heart of 
man, that is touched by the cry of distress. But 
our Maker sometimes shows us the vanity of all 
power but his own. It is a profitable lesson. 
Man ought to feel his littleness. Neither on him- 
self, nor on his fellows, should he ever place such 
reliance, as to forget that all power helongeth unto 
God. Man is a very little thing! When God 
wakes the elements against him, what can he do I 
Multitudes were forced to see their all sinking 
down in fire, and feel that they could do nothing 
to save it. At most, they could only seize an 
item of their possessions, and not lodge even that 
in security. Large quantities of merchandize res- 
cued from the burning buildings were consumed 
in the streets, and even the altar was no protec- 
tion, — the sanctuary mingled its own ashes with 
those of the precious fabrics placed within it for 
security. Oh ! how little, how little a thing is 
man ! When God pleases to show him his noth- 
ingness, there is not a lowly reptile that crawls 
upon the earth, but may boast of being his equal. 
The rich, the influential, the vigorous, the intrepid, 
can do no more than the veriest worm beneath their 



15 

feet. Contending against God, they are alike wise 
and alike powerful. Hence, 

4. Thi& calamity also strikingly illustrates how 
vain are human contrivances and human securities 
if God please to make them so. 

There is nothing improper in the plans of men 
to secure themselves against loss. We are not 
going to censure them. Forethought is one of the 
most commendable employments of mind ; and 
when our plans for security do not lead us to 
rest in them and forget God, no wisdom can 
frown upon them. But in this disaster it has 
pleased God to illustrate their vanity. You were 
compelled to see all the arrangements of the 
fire department, all the fearlessness and prompt- 
ness of the firemen utterly baffled, hour after hour, 
while the unpitying flame was extending the field 
of its desolation. In ordinary cases, you have 
found the arrangements effective and sufficient, as 
soon as the alarm has extended far enough to bring 
them into action. Not so now. The whole power 
of the department could do little more to breast 
the destroyer, than the child, that throws a feather 
in the way of the tempest. God seemed to have 
united the two extremes, to teach man the vanity 
of his contrivances. He seemed to have yoked 
heat and cold together, to give dreadful emphasis 
to the lesson. While the fire consumed your pal- 
aces, the cold congealed the waters that would 
quench it. With one hand, God was sending on 



16 

the destroyer ; and with the other, holding power- 
less the arm that would arrest its progress. He 
made even the ocean heave back his tides with un- 
wonted force, as if denying any thing to the forsa- 
ken city, — that mistress of commerce, to whose 
glory he had so long and so largely been tributary, 
and deserting her now in her utmost extremity. 
The lowness of the waters, at the very time of the 
most terrifying alarm, rendered almost useless the 
exertions of the most energetic body of firemen 
in the world. 

And besides this, he showed the vanity of the 
resources of the prudent. The cry of alarm fell 
powerless upon many an ear, because of the secu- 
rities of effected insurance. The thought crossed 
many a mind, that herein was security against per- 
sonal loss. But this disaster has revealed the va- 
nity of the thought. It has been so extensive as 
almost to crush the contrivances of prudence and 
forethought; — it has almost swept away at once 
the insurer and the insured. Some alleviation, 
indeed, may come from this source ; but far less 
than the feeblest hope anticipated. And even this 
comes from the miseries of others. The owners 
of the insurance stocks, many of them widows and 
orphan children, dependant on these for their daily 
bread, and supposing this the most secure of all 
investments, have been deprived of all their living. 
This is the saddest item in the whole chapter of 



17 

distress ! The widow's wail and the orphan's cry, 
are borne on the moanino- winds! 

Man is more likely to forget his dependance in 
securing his possessions, than in acquiring them. 
To attain, he feels his need of God's blessing; but 
to secure, he is more apt to fee) his own suffi- 
ciency. At the very moment, when gratitude 
ought to make him mindful of God, he is prone to 
forget him. Sin is as unthankful and proud, as it 
is foolish. From many a man, God has taken 
away the investments, tijat he thought most se- 
cure of all ; and in which, he hardly realized that 
he needed God to protect him. But God has writ- 
ten the admonition in letters of fire ! He has 
shown, that there is no device, no prudence or 
contrivance of men, which can secure them. He 
has given the very lesson, which seems to be most 
peculiarly needed at the present moment, when 
great accumulation of individual wealth is tempt- 
ing men to ingratitude and pride. He has shown, 
that there is only one place, where men can lay up 
for themselves treasures, and find them safe. Let 
lis place them there. Let us take the insurance 
of Almighty God. The treasures of grace are 
never burnt up. If we have treasures laid up in 
heaxen, the world may burn, and we shall be rich. 
Hence, 

5. An occurrence like this, contains a lesson on 
the equal if}/ of men. 

Perliaps, if you were to look the whole country 
3 



18 

over, you could find no body of men, who seemed 
in more enviable circumstances, than those who 
have suffered in this calamity. They had accu- 
mulated much ; — their property was as wisely se- 
cured, as prudence could make it ; — they were en- 
gaged in extensive and prosperous business, and 
seemed to be far removed from the fears of po- 
verty and want not only, but far above the fear of 
embarrassment. On such men, the world are ac- 
customed to look with envy. They seem to be 
raised above a thousand fears and troubles, which 
afflict others. The embarrassments, which fall to 
the common lot of men, do not reach them, and 
the great mass of the world look upon them, as 
standing in a most enviable position. But a stroke 
like this, scorns all such distinctions. Like death 
itself, it shows how easily the Ruler of the world 
can reduce all to the same common level. Let 
Him but will it, and in a single hour, the rich man 
shall be as poor as the poorest; and perhaps even 
more miserable by sinking down from his envied 
elevation, than if he had never risen to it. God 
shows us, that in his hands we are all alike ; — he 
rebukes pride, on the one hand, and envy, on the 
other. 

How pitiful, before God, are all those feelings 
of pride and vanity, which circumstances engen- 
der ! He has but to speak, and at his bidding, the 
world shall change its aspect! He made it, and 
he controls it. He stretcheth out the north over 



19 

the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon noth- 
ing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds. 
The pillars of heaven tremble at his reproof. He 
divideth the sea with his power, and by his under- 
standing he smiteth through the proud. He sit- 
teth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabi- 
tants thereof are as grasshoppers. He weigheth 
the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. 
Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and 
are counted as the small dust of the balance; he 
taketh up the isles, as a very little thing. He 
poureth contempt upon j^rinces, and weakeneth the 
strength of the mighty. He thundcreth in the hea- 
vens, the Highest giveth his voice, hailstones and 
coals of fire. A smoke goeth out of his nostrils, 
and fire out of his mouth devoureth ; coals are 
kindled by it. Who is God, save the Lord ? 
The meaning of all this is, — God is great, and 
there is none great but God. As for man, his 
wisdom and his pride are vanity ! His choicest 
goods, his loveliest possessions, his costliest pal- 
aces, give him no sure pre-eminence ! The breath 
of the destroyer may crumble them all into ashes, 
and leave him deserted of every thing, 

"And none so poor to do him reverence." 

6. The extent of this calamity is another idea 
that should not escape us. Nothing like it haa 
ever before been experienced, on the continent of 
America. Since that awful time, when the pal- 



aces of imperial Moscow were given up to the 
flames, nothing of equal disaster has fallen upon 
any city in the civilized world. It is a calamity, 
not merely here, among those who are the first 
and greatest sufferers, and for whom our hearts 
bleed in sympathy ; but it is a public calamity, — 
it is a disaster to the whole country, and indeed to 
the commercial world. The Deity has laid his 
hand upon the very heart of commercial activity 
on this side the Atlantic. Commerce will sufier : 
Trade will be deranged : Improvements arrested. 
The whole business of the land will feel the shock. 
To hsive forty acres, out of the centre of business 
in the city, blotted out at a single stroke, — its 
goods to a great extent consumed, and its pal- 
aces crumbled into ashes ; — to have fifteen mil- 
lions sunk in a single night ; — to have so many 
hundreds of mercantile houses interrupted in bu- 
siness, and many of them made utterly bank- 
rupt; — is no common calamity! It cannot but 
be, that the whole laud will feel it, — that the whole 
commercial world will realize a shock ! The ac- 
tivity, the enterprize, the confidence, of the com- 
munity will be damped. The government will 
suffer. The church will suffer. The cause of 
Christian benevolence will suffer. God has taken 
away from some of the most benevolent, (among 
a people proverbially liberal,) the means of doing 
good ; and if men of commerce, of science and 
the arts, must mourn, the children of God are 



21 

called on to mingle their tears with theirs! And 
it seems to me, (I know not with how much truth,) 
that this dear congregation has experienced more 
than its proportionate share! IVlay the Infinite 
God pity the sufferers! May consolations come 
down from heaven, and the distresses and fears 
that oppress us be graciously assuaged ! 

The city, the country, many of the individuals, 
will recover again from this disaster, and business 
and prosperity will flow on in their accustomed 
channels. But many a widow's heart will bleed, 
and many an orphan will weep unseen ! Theirs 
is the bitterest chalice of wormwood and gall ! 
For them, no enterprize and industry will recover 
the loss ! They will suffer unseen ; and while for 
others, a new edifice shall rise, a phoenix from its 
ashes, for them remain the desolation of mind and 
tears of loneliness ! 

This is no common disaster. The Almighty 
has surpassed his usual measure of afflictive visi- 
tation ; as if to show us that he is our God. 
Every thing was going on in the full tide of pros- 
perity. Commerce was extending, — trade rapid 
and prosperous, — credit easy, — property deemed 
secure, — improvements projected and completed 
with unparalleled rapidity and ease, — literature and 
science advancing, — and the streams of Christian 
benevolence going out to water the whole earth ! — 
and all, all but RELIGION, that concerns men 



22 

on earth, seemed in a most happy and promising 
condition ! I ask, therefore, 

III. If it does not seem to be a most appropri- 
ate warning of God to call men to reflection'! He 
has tried us with prosperity. At the monthly con- 
cert, on the first Monday of this month, we ex- 
pressed the opinion that there never had been a 
nation, who had enjoyed twenty years of such 
unbroken prosperity as this nation, since the 
peace of eighteen hundred and fifteen. We ex- 
pressed the fear too, that unless more piety and 
zeal and devotedness should characterize the 
church, the thousand worldly influences would 
draw in our sons and our daughters, our neigh- 
bors and friends, and they would be lost to hea- 
ven, and the whole church rendered compara- 
tively feeble ! But little did we think that Al- 
mighty God was about to send such an admoni- 
tion, to remind us, that all was prosperous, but 
RELIGION ! This seems like such a voice. 
We leave you to contemplate it, as you see the 
contrast, the dark contrast, between the prosperity 
and the piety of our land. 

In periods of great worldly prosperity, men are 
prone to forget God. With such hearts of cor- 
ruption as we possess, it is easy for us to be led 
astray. We need some strong monition. When 
God's judgments are abroad in the earth the in- 



23 

habitants thereof will learn righteousness. With- 
out such judgments, aside from some visible to- 
kens of the power of God, we are too much prone 
to rely on second causes. That very goodness 
of God which leads him to govern the world by 
uniform laws, leads us to forget him. Perhaps, 
our fertile country, our progressing improve- 
ments, our national peace, our successful enter- 
prize and skill, our safe harbors, our extending 
commerce, and salubrious skies, have all been so 
many temptations to our impiety. Our God has 
shown us how easy it is to render them all vain ! 
Let us recognize his hand. Let us confess that 
we deserve its strokes. Let us avert his indigna- 
tion by timely repentance. Let us take refuge in 
the shadow of his wings until these calamities be 
overpast. 

No question, the intention of the Deity in the 
miseries he sends upon the world, and forces us 
to feel or to witness, is to lead men to holiness. 
He writes TEKEL upon the world, that our eye 
may see it, and be directed to the world to come. 
We may not say, that he smites always in anger, — 
we dare not aver, that vengeance and indignation 
guide the strokes of his hand. We remember the 
darkness that is round about him, and how little 
we are able to penetrate the particular designs of 
God. We remember that a ma7i must be born 
blind, not because he sinned, or his jfa'^ents, but in 
the language of Jesus Christ, that the works of 



24 

God should he manifest in him. We remember 
an Abraham must be called to otFer up Isaac, not 
as a judgment, bat for a trial. AW / know that 
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld 
thy son, thine only son, from vie. We remem- 
ber, that a Lazarus must die, in the language of 
the Savior, to glorify God: a Job must suffer, to 
baffle Satan, perfect his faith, — and exemplify 
godliness to the world. And in the same calam- 
ity, we remember too, that God may have differ- 
ent designs among the sufferers. One may suffer, 
that the trial of his faith being much more pre- 
cious, than of gold that 2y(^t'isheth, though it be 
tried with fire, might be found unto jjraise and 
honor and glory at the ajypearing of Jesus Christ. 
Another may suffer like David : before I was af- 
flicted I went astray, but now have I kejyt thy 
word. Still, a scene like this, in circumstances 
like this, does seem like a strong rebuke to the 
worldliness of the land. Is it not true, that the 
aim after riches has almost swallowed up all other 
aims? Talents and industry and enterprize in 
this land have been devoted to the acquisition of 
wealth, which might have been enough to have 
improved the condition and heightened the felici- 
ties of half mankind. Talents have here been 
devoted to acquiring wealth, which might have 
made successful rivalry with the proudest of an- 
cient genius, and pushed on the achievements of 
science beyond those fields of mastery, where 



25 



men like Bacon and Newton and Locke have 
gained their laurels, 

"And left their name 
" A light, a landmark on the cliff's of fame." 

Talents have here been devoted to wealth, which 
might have been enough to have carried the gospel 
of Jesus Christ over every sea, over every mountain, 
into the unexplored regions of every island and 
continent^ and lodged the offers of salvation in the 
habitation of every living man! We have not 
forgotten, that if any provide not for his own, he 
hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 
Nor do we forget the streams of Christian bounty, 
which have been swelled, and rolled along in 
deeper and wider channels, and to more blessed 
results, by the liberality of wealthy, commercial 
men. But we believe, there is a growing pas- 
sion for accumulating riches, which can never be 
needed by one's family; and surely, there are 
devotements of heart, in grace, and of life, in ex- 
emplifying it, which constitute a better offering to 
God, than all the riches, which wealth can pile 
upon the altar. 

And has not wealth become almost a national 
idol ] What other object, in our land, wakes to 
energy the capacities of men] Where now do 
we witness contentment with a handsome compe- 
tence ^ To be learned, to be useful, to be es- 
teemed for wisdom and virtue, to do good in the 
4 



26 

every-day walks of life, to one's own family, and 
friends, by teaching them to be virtuous and con- 
tented and happy ; — to use the world as not abu- 
sing it, remembering the fashion of it j^asseth 
away ; — are objects, which seem almost like mat- 
ters of fiction, or tales of another age ! And in 
this eager rush after the world, is it not true, that 
the people of God have been too much borne 
along ? Ought we not, therefore, to view this 
disaster, if not, as a judgment, at least, as a voice 
of warning, cautioning us, love not the world, nei- 
ther the things that are in the world, — set your 
affections on things above, where Jesus Christ sit- 
teth on the right hand of God, 

Let us be instructed and improved by this fiery 
visitation. After all, it seems more like a warn- 
ing, than like an act of vengeance. And this idea 
will gather strength and clearness, as we, 

IV. Notice the mercies which seem to charac- 
terize it. We have time only to name them. 

1. One is, the season of its occurrence. How 
much more disastrous, if the same spot had thus 
been made desolate at the commencement of the 
business period of the year. Many more mil- 
lions must have perished, and the gains, the living 
of the year been lost. 

2. Another is, the peculiarity of the season. 
By the early closing of the rivers and canals, and 
by the unusually protracted voyages of merchant 



27 

vessels coming from the East, large quantities of 
provisions and merchandize were detained from 
the city, and thereby saved from the flames. 

3. Another is, the locality of the infliction. 
Had it fallen upon a thickly inhabited part of the 
city, though the loss in property might not have 
been so extensive, the suflering would have been 
far more appalling. Let as many private dwell- 
ings burn, and no man can tell the wretchedness 
that would ensue. Exposure, nakedness and 
hunger, would swell the amount of wo. 

4. Another is, the facilities for recovering from 
the loss. Activity, enterprize, and the proverbial 
buoyancy of a commercial spirit, will tend to se- 
cure a speedy recovery. 

5. Another, that so few persons were them- 
selves the victims of the fire. 

6. Still another, that it spread no farther. A 
slight change of the wind might have doubled the 
disaster. 

7. Another still, that this extensive loss has 
come in a way to produce less real suffering, than 
if it had occurred in any other way or place. 
Destroy as much property, at a single blow, in 
any other place you can imagine in the whole 
land, and you produce far more extensive suf- 
fering. 

God is good, even while he afflicts. This con- 
gregation should be especially thankful for his 
goodness. Twice, that shower of fire, that was 



28 

raining down upon us, kindled the flames, just by 
the spot where we are standing ; and had it not 
been for timely and providential discovery, your 
own sanctum-y had now been lying in ashes. 

That, which is most to be feared, is a misim- 
provement of this voice from heaven. Men seem 
hardly to think, that God means any thing by it. 
Hence, is our greatest fear ! Already, we hear 
the vain boast, how quick the city will recover ! 
The danger is, that instead of being warned and 
corrected by the voice of God, men will only learn 
to glory in themselves ! This is most of all to be 
avoided. This disaster may be borne. But if 
the design of it is not answered ; if, instead of an 
increase of holiness, there is an increase of vvorld- 
liness and impiety and sin, we may fear something 
more dreadful still ! Calamity is not the worst 
evil. It is far worse, when men refuse to recog- 
nize the hand of God in it. Tlien stroke fol- 
lows stroke ! or God gives up the hardened to 
their loved impiety ! We fear it will be so now. 
The pestilence has been among us, and where is 
the piety, which should have sprung up along its 
track 1 The tempest on the lakes and the fires in 
the city have come ; and rely upon it, if men will 
not remember God and recognize his hand, other 
and heavier evils will ensue ! 

There is a way to avert them. Let us bring 
our motives to the light of the gospel of God, 
and consent to have our aims all governed and 



29 

guided by the principles of holy and eternal 
truth. 

Some of us have professed to be the people of 
God. Have we not reason to be ashamed, that 
we have served him so little \ Have we not over- 
valued the world \ In our earthly prosperity, 
have we not forgotten our heavenly pilgrimage X 
Has not our heart been too well satisfied, while 
every thing was prosperous around us, except the 
cause of God ; — and while multitudes were in the 
midst of us doing despite to the Spirit of Grace, 
and neglecting the salvation proffered by the eter- 
nal Son of God X Let us be ashamed to live so 
much for the world. Let us break off our sins by 
repentance, and our iniquities by turning to the 
Lord. Let us remember this is not our rest, — 
these are not our riches ; — our home is Eternity, 
our house is heaven. 

Some of us have never yet crucified one feel- 
ing of worldliness. We are still without God in 
the world. We are spending our energies for 
naught ; we are exhausting the best of our days, 
for that world, which shall soon be burnt up, when 
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from hea- 
ven, with his mighty angels, infiarningjire, taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ! 
That time will soon come. You who put far off" 
the evil day, aiming to be rich in the world, and 
not to be rich towards God, are trifling with your 



30 

dearest interests ! Bitterly will you rue it, if you 
turn not speedily from a vain world, and make 
Jesus Christ your friend ! Think of your soul! 
What will the world be to you, when the God of 
the world shall call you to the Eternal Judgment^ 
You must leave your riches. You must forsake 
your choicest possessions and your loveliest pal- 
aces. We brought nothing into this world, and it 
is certain we can carry nothing out. Then pon- 
der the question, — what is a man profited, if he 
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? 
or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 



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